Latest / The Rocker Skating Podcast / Emergency off-season news: Marin Honda / Shoma Uno return + other off-season news

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Emergency off-season news: Marin Honda / Shoma Uno return + other off-season news · The Rocker Skating Podcast

0:05
Welcome to the Rocker Skating podcast.
0:07
I feel like we haven't done this in a long time, but you know,
0:10
John Wilson Blaze is still our sponsor and Michelle Ellis is
0:14
still with us. Hi, Michelle.
0:17
Hi, Jackie. It's May 24th, which means we
0:22
haven't watched any new skating, new competition skating for two
0:29
months. It's it's been a decent break.
0:34
I have watched more skating than I anticipated watching during
0:38
that time. But yes, no new skating.
0:43
It's, it's, it's a little I, I do feel like last season was a
0:48
long time ago already. Yeah.
0:52
Which I, which I I like in some ways, but I also don't like
0:55
because it's like it's literally been two months.
0:57
Well, half the skaters that were there are now split or retired.
1:01
I'm. Traumatized.
1:02
Well, we're going to talk about that.
1:04
I think part of the reason why this offseason has felt so long
1:08
and This is why we're here today to talk about this.
1:12
We needed to air it all out because a lot of stuff has
1:17
happened this season and we were talking about this right before
1:20
we got on to record, which I was like I, I have, I have resisted
1:27
the temptation to say this is unusual.
1:30
The number of splits, retirements, new pairings, new
1:36
countries, new, new everything. I have been, I've been trying to
1:43
convince myself that this is just a normal post Olympic
1:51
offseason where things happen. And we, we knew that there were
1:54
going to be retirements. We knew that there were going to
1:56
be splits. But I really Michelle, I, I
2:01
don't know if this is normal. Think so.
2:06
And I was thinking like, so Beijing was not a normal Olympic
2:10
season. So I feel like a lot of people
2:12
didn't really feel like that was a real Olympics in the same way,
2:15
'cause they couldn't have their family there.
2:17
And I think everyone sort of just held on through it, but
2:21
and. Then they stuck around because
2:23
of it. Right.
2:24
Yeah. And the the past Olympic
2:27
seasons, I mean, I remember there was some coaching changes
2:31
and things after 2018 and after 2014 and after 20, but nothing
2:38
this like shocking. I mean, after 2006, I remember a
2:41
lot of the dance teams hung on and did another season.
2:44
So it was just kind of like, I don't know, this is just kind of
2:49
traumatizing. I think it's interesting that
2:51
you say that the after 2006 because and we were talking
2:56
about this when I was interviewing Piper and Paul
3:00
after 2010 was like the great breakup of great breakup and
3:06
reshuffle of dance teams. And, you know, we saw the like,
3:14
you know, Piper was saying, yeah, I was, you know, I, I had
3:16
try, I was, I was having tryouts with Paul.
3:19
I was having tryouts with Evan. I, you know, I just split with
3:22
Zach. And like, like there were
3:24
everybody was sort of like in this, in this merry go round.
3:27
And it, it feels a little bit like that here.
3:31
But also it's not Just Dance. Yeah, at worse.
3:35
And it's it's higher level teens.
3:37
It's a lot. Yeah, it's a, it's quite, it's
3:42
quite a lot. I mean, those were like, I mean
3:45
those big splits in dance, it was like Emily and Evan and
3:48
Piper and Zach were like the season before.
3:50
And then Vanessa and Paul, I mean, they, they weren't the
3:54
number one or #2 in their country.
3:56
I guess Vanessa and Paul were. They were, but they split the
3:59
after the post Olympic season. This just feels like we got off
4:03
the ice from worlds and then it's like we're splitting, We're
4:06
splitting, we're splitting. Oh, I'm done by the way, I'm
4:08
done. Retirement.
4:09
Goodbye. And it's kind of funny because I
4:14
expected retirements, but we haven't gotten retirements from
4:16
almost anyone I expected them from yet.
4:18
So all. Right, let's, let's we, I, I
4:23
had, I had titled this podcast the Marin Honda and Shoma Uno
4:31
pairing plus other news. I mean, let's start with the
4:35
happy. The happy.
4:37
Yeah, the big, big news over the past couple days, and I mean,
4:44
Michelle, you and I have had to keep a lot of secrets over the
4:47
years and we continue to have to keep a lot of secrets.
4:50
And that was one of those like, I had to keep my mouth shut for
4:55
a long time for Marin Honda and and show me, you know, and to be
5:00
fair, yes, they had been planning things.
5:04
But also, you never know, right? Like it's, it's like you, you,
5:09
you think you're going to do it. And then, you know, a few weeks
5:12
later, maybe it's like, yeah, that doesn't feel right.
5:14
And so we all saw that there were there was footage of them
5:21
and photos of them going to Montreal to do a little bit of
5:27
work with, with the team there, partly because Misato
5:32
Komatsubara, who has been with them over the past few seasons
5:37
as they have been doing shows, and I'm talking about Shoma and
5:40
Marin, as they've been doing shows like they she trained in
5:45
Montreal. And so I think that this was
5:47
like a natural, like let's do a little camp.
5:50
Let's, you know, let's learn some golden walls, which is kind
5:53
of crazy that you know, you got Shoma, you know, you're learning
5:56
the golden waltz. I mean, that is what's so crazy.
5:59
It's like, oh, it's fun. Let me try ice dance.
6:01
This is all, let me just do this.
6:02
And then you could go to Montreal to learn the golden
6:04
Waltz. I think that would take a lot of
6:06
people out. I think a lot of people be like,
6:08
you know what? I think show skating is fine.
6:10
It's fun. Like poor Shoma, poor Marin.
6:14
Like this is their first competitive season and they have
6:17
to do like one of the worst compulsories.
6:19
I mean greatest, but hardest, craziest.
6:23
So that that's I'm impressed that they learned it and they
6:27
still said, OK, we're still going to do this.
6:29
Good for them. I don't want to do it.
6:32
I, yeah, I know it's, it's, it's, it's very interesting.
6:36
And, and we were hearing some of the things that that they were
6:42
saying in their press conference.
6:44
And apparently Martin Honda has been training ice dance for a
6:50
number of years now, like starting back in like I think
6:54
2021. And and you know, she had
6:58
tryouts with Shingo Nishiyama. She's had she's had different
7:03
tryouts. And when Shoma retired, like
7:11
weeks later, Marin was like, hey, you wanna try?
7:15
You wanna give it a shot? And the the dynamics are
7:19
interesting, right? They were, they're both, they
7:23
were both single skaters. And you know, like you think
7:30
about, you think about like a a a Kano Muramoto and Daisuke
7:37
Takahashi. Kano was, you know, an ice
7:41
dancer for a very long time. And Daisuke was coming in as a
7:44
single skater turned ice dancer. And now you've got really
7:49
multiple 12 to multiple 2 ice dance teams in Japan who are
7:56
both former single skaters and both like very, you know, well
8:02
accomplished kind of single skaters, you know, Marin and,
8:05
and Shoma and Koshida. I I Kashida shimata.
8:16
There we go. Oh my gosh, my brain.
8:18
You don't have your skating brain on it.
8:20
Leaves me too. Kashida Shimata, right and, and
8:23
the, the, the now that we got two of those, we got Rika Kihira
8:27
coming having come back to to do ice dance, right.
8:30
So Japan's a very interesting 1. And I will say Daisuke Takahashi
8:35
really like flew open the door for all of these single skaters
8:40
who are like, I think I've got some really good skating skills.
8:44
Like, why not? Why not give it a shot?
8:46
And you know, the team medal is right there.
8:48
You know team medal is going to win it.
8:50
So many they need a team. I'm, I feel like Shoma.
8:54
I mean, Japanese skating usually has like a reputation for their
8:57
skaters having exceptional edge quality and skating quality and
9:01
expressiveness on the ice. But Shoma and Marin each in
9:05
their discipline, like took it to its own level, like they were
9:08
just such beautiful skaters. And we didn't get to see Mara
9:12
and really have a long career. I think because she had issues
9:16
like maintaining the jumps. She didn't get assignments.
9:19
But Shoma we had for a long time and it was still sad to to see
9:23
him go. And I mean, I I missed him a lot
9:25
this past couple seasons. So I'm excited to see both of
9:29
them. But it looks like it's going
9:30
well. I'm, you know, let's go.
9:33
I love this. I I think the dynamics will be
9:36
interesting because he is shorter than she is.
9:40
We need to get him some of those Max Stavisky lifts on his boots.
9:44
Max who was always competing in like stilettos.
9:46
He had like a solid like inch of lift.
9:50
And then he had those blades that were lifted too.
9:53
Oh my. Lord.
9:55
They'll figure it out. It's OK.
9:58
They'll be fine. Marion and Shoma headline our
10:04
new partnerships for this offseason.
10:07
There have been a few other ones that have been that have been
10:10
making the rounds and the with new partnerships, with the
10:16
exception of Shoma and Marion. With these new partnerships, it
10:20
means that old partnerships either broke up or broke up
10:24
because we retired or broke up because they were both looking
10:27
for new, new partners. The first one that we got in the
10:34
last couple of weeks was Star Andrews and Danielle Parkman.
10:38
Now we're talking about pairs. We're going to mix pairs and ice
10:41
dance here. Musical pairs in the US.
10:45
Yeah, we'll talk about the musical pairs that is.
10:47
That is happening. Star Andrews, we knew from last
10:51
season she had announced that it was going to be her last singles
10:57
season and that she was going to go into pair skating and lo and
11:03
behold, little did we know there was a lot there was a lot of
11:07
talk randomly that it was going to be somehow is going to be her
11:11
and Luke Wang, who they're the 2 are dating and.
11:16
She's so tiny. Yeah, and it was I, I don't
11:19
think it was even actually in the cards, but but it it turned
11:24
out the day, the couple days before they were fully
11:27
announced, there was a photo of star with a large man next.
11:33
To her very large. And I texted, I texted Michelle,
11:37
I was like, that is Danielle Parkman.
11:39
There is no way that is not Danielle Parkman.
11:44
Yeah. So they will be.
11:47
Starman. Star Man will be will be
11:52
debuting this coming season likely.
11:54
She posted a video in their announcement and they look good.
11:57
She's, I mean, I can't believe that Star has not been doing
12:00
pairs. She just looks so good in the
12:04
pair elements already. I know I'm excited to see how I
12:08
think. You know, with, with single
12:09
skaters going into pair, single women skaters going into pairs,
12:13
it's usually like, how did they learn the twist?
12:16
How did they learn the death spirals?
12:17
How did they learn the throws? The other things tend to come
12:22
generally easier, right, because lifts the the woman has, has a
12:28
lot of mechanics that they have to deal with.
12:30
But looking at the, the, the footage that star and Danielle
12:36
had posted, she has a very good core and she understands her
12:40
standard of balance. And so, so that that seems to be
12:43
OK for them. The other things we'll have to
12:46
see. I hope he likes Beyoncé.
12:51
Danielle Parkman skating to a Beyoncé medley.
12:55
I mean, it's going to happen at least once a year and I'm here
12:58
for it. And choreographically, who are
13:03
you? I am the backup dancer to
13:05
Beyoncé. I am.
13:07
Yes. That's right.
13:10
Perfect. So that was that was the the
13:12
first one in the last couple of weeks, the second one.
13:15
And we knew, we knew something was happening because Kellyanne
13:21
Lauren and Luca Etienne had announced that they were
13:25
splitting and that both of them were looking for a new partner.
13:30
And then Fiona Bombardier and Benjamin Bimar had split.
13:37
And So what was going to happen? We didn't know.
13:41
And it was Fiona Bombardier and Luca Ettier who who paired up
13:47
for Canada. Canada Pairs is also in disarray
13:52
and we'll talk about where all that goes as well.
13:55
Yeah. This one will be interesting.
13:57
I mean, Fiona Bombardier is. I feel like I got this wrong
14:02
last time. Or maybe I didn't get it wrong
14:03
last time. The daughter of Jose Schwinnar
14:07
and for those of you who know the history of Canadian skating,
14:13
that is royalty. And Fiona had had her moments in
14:18
single skating and from what I heard wanted to continue doing
14:23
single skating, but but you know, kind of decided that that
14:28
pairs was more of the path for her.
14:30
And so she is now with Luca Etier.
14:34
She had an injury last season and and now she's back from it.
14:39
So Canada pairs having a shake up, Italian pairs.
14:46
Oh gosh, yeah, both pair teams on the Olympic team split.
14:52
That's right. And so Rebecca Ghilardi, Filippo
14:56
Ambrosini were the first to announce Rebecca Gilardi that
15:01
that was not a surprise at all because.
15:03
Sad about it though. I know there's they're they're
15:06
such a fun team. Rebecca Gilardi at the Olympics.
15:09
I was telling you folks after, after they finished their free
15:14
skate, I saw Rebecca and she was like, yeah, we're not going to
15:17
worlds. I'm like, oh, yeah, you're
15:18
right. You're, you're totally retiring.
15:21
Yeah. Little did we know, though, that
15:24
Fela and Rossini was going to continue and he has been trying
15:30
out with a few different skaters.
15:33
And, and it, it turned out that Melania Phanan, who hasn't
15:37
skated in a couple of years, like a season and a half, I
15:41
think she was skating with another Filippo, Filippo
15:47
Clarici, who and they, they, they, they represented Finland
15:51
and they, they were actually, they had some very good skates
15:55
at worlds a cup for at least one of their seasons.
15:58
Together they were good. Yeah, she's a, she's a strong
16:02
single skater as I remember, which I think will be useful
16:07
because at the end of Gilardi Ambrosini's career, they were
16:16
down to double axles and a double sow cow because they were
16:20
just the, the, the triples were just not happening.
16:23
And so we'll see where, where they go.
16:26
They will be representing Italy and and that was a, that was a,
16:33
a, a, a decision that they made partly because Italy has
16:37
probably more financial support for their Figure skaters and
16:42
also. Easier for citizenship.
16:45
Is it? Is it easier?
16:46
Well, does Philo speak Finnish? I don't.
16:50
Know, I think he does, he might be and they probably are
16:52
training in Italy so she has residency.
16:55
Yeah, yeah, that probably makes sense.
16:59
So, So the two of them are now going to be representing Italy.
17:05
They want to aim for this season, likely later in the
17:08
season. Philo was saying instead of like
17:11
debuting at Lombardia. So that's what's happening with
17:15
them. But also and now we're now we're
17:17
verging into split territory or like completely into split
17:23
territory. Now Sarah Conti, Nikomachi are
17:28
are not skating together anymore.
17:32
Nikomachi decided to retire and Sarah Conti is looking for a new
17:39
partner. Italian pairs we knew.
17:44
We knew going in to to this coming season that it was going
17:48
to be like likely in shambles given that they had one pair at
17:53
worlds last season because Gilardi and Rossini didn't go
17:59
and then Conte Machi also didn't go because Sarah Conte was still
18:03
recovering from her knee injury. So the top 2 pairs are gone.
18:11
Bakari Grise, we haven't heard anything from them.
18:15
They they were squarely the number three pair in, in Italy.
18:21
And then Caldaro Maglio who are who are the number four pair,
18:25
they went to worlds. They are continuing.
18:29
So there'll be an interesting Italian pairs field over the
18:35
next four years. A little surprised by Kontimaci.
18:39
I just thought thinking back to the condition they were in
18:42
before she got injured, I was like, they, they could win
18:44
worlds, you know, why not do another season and try?
18:46
But I guess if they're happy with their, you know, where
18:49
they're at and their Olympic medal then.
18:53
Yeah, yeah. Got their Olympic medal.
18:57
Well, let's talk about the great pairs shake UPS that we were
19:01
just talking about. We start with the US.
19:06
I mean, some of these aren't even announced splits yet and we
19:09
have new partnerships. You wonder, you wonder.
19:15
OK, so in late March, Audrey Shin Balaj naj were were had had
19:22
split. It was didn't seem amicable
19:27
based on what was going on with their Instagram posting, but but
19:33
both of them wanted to continue. And so that was the first one.
19:38
Olivia Flores, Luke Wang split, Katie Mcbeeth, Danielle Parkman,
19:45
we talked about they split. And so those three were the ones
19:50
who we we we heard actual confirmation of splits.
19:57
Now lots of things are are. Happening right now in the
20:03
social media verse, including yesterday, a picture of the
20:11
teams that are at least the skaters that are training with
20:18
Jenny Mino and Todd Sand. And they appear to be standing
20:21
in their team position. Like together.
20:24
The teams are together, yeah. They appear to be standing in
20:27
their team positions because star Andrews was standing with
20:32
Danielle Parkman and right next to them.
20:37
Katie Mcbeeth was skating, was standing with Balajnach, yes.
20:42
So I, I, that sounds like a potentially great pairing.
20:46
I'm doesn't mean that they're A-Team, but they were standing
20:49
together in their camp photo. So I'm taking it as soft
20:54
confirmation. There's going together and he
20:59
has trained in that group before so.
21:01
That's right. That's right.
21:02
Yeah. But also there was a team that
21:07
was not in the photo that I think we expected to see, and
21:10
that was Chelsea Liu and Ryan Bedard, who maybe they have
21:14
changed coaches, maybe they just weren't there that day, I don't
21:18
know. But last we heard they were
21:19
together in training at that in that camp.
21:22
And so them not being in the team photo or the the group
21:25
photo of all the teams there is raises a question about their
21:29
whereabouts. Where are we're?
21:32
Getting we're getting into the where are you in the team photo
21:36
on the offseason questions. But if we look at last year's US
21:42
figures getting championships, a theme of Mitrofanov, who are the
21:46
gold medalists? We we are what, 95100% sure that
21:52
they are continuing they're. Literally married to each other.
21:55
They they are literally married. It was either they were going to
21:58
retire or they were going to continue.
22:00
And, and by all accounts, they're continuing Ellie camp.
22:04
Danny O'Shea have been on tour for the last couple of months.
22:09
They are very tired and we'll see.
22:14
We'll see how it goes. It's been a whirlwind a few
22:16
months. They have not said anything
22:20
either way about where they're going to go competitively.
22:24
So that's a that's a question mark.
22:28
Mcbeef Parkman We talked about they split Emily Chan and
22:31
Spencer Howe. Here's more social media sleuth
22:34
thing. And it wasn't really a sleuth
22:36
because Monument Ice in Colorado literally posted something that
22:42
had Spencer Howe and Audrey Shin and it said something together.
22:53
And, and it said something to the effect of we were excited to
22:57
have Audrey Shin and Spencer Howe trained here.
23:02
So what does that mean? Does that mean they are
23:07
together? We don't know.
23:08
Does that mean they're still trying out?
23:09
We don't know. Who knows?
23:11
But that is a that is something that's currently speculation
23:16
happening right now and public information.
23:20
I had heard like on Twitter that Audrey was skating with Spencer
23:23
and that people had seen them training together in Boston, but
23:27
this was the first like actual picture of them together we got
23:30
with a confirmation of them being a team.
23:34
Yeah, I mean, what what was interesting was Shannon Howe had
23:38
had been were going to be on Stars on Ice and they they ended
23:46
up pulling out of Stars on Ice because of previous commitments,
23:50
as I believe that was supposed to be.
23:52
And then they did skate at a Boston show that they were part
23:57
of. And so, you know, people were
23:59
just wondering if that was it actually was a scheduling
24:02
conflict or if. It was weird to turn down all
24:04
that money. Something else is going on,
24:07
yeah. So we don't, we don't know.
24:09
There's no confirmation of Shannon Howe.
24:12
There's no confirmation of Shin and Hal, but that is currently
24:17
where it stands. OK.
24:18
Number 5 was Shin and Naj. They have split and we talked
24:21
about them. Number six was Pluses Fernandez.
24:24
We know they're continuing. They already have new programs.
24:27
They are ready to go. They are and and you know, I
24:31
gotta say last season, I really liked where they were.
24:35
They had come back from, you know, the the Max's injury and I
24:39
feel I feel like they came back a better pair, a stronger pair.
24:44
So we'll see how how they continue.
24:46
Flores and Wang have split Lou and Bedard Mia from the team
24:51
photo. And so that was your top 8 from
24:58
US nationals. And so that was, you know, Topsy
25:02
Turvy continues to be OK, let's go look at the Canadians woofoo.
25:13
And we're going to we're going to segue from the Canadian pairs
25:15
to Canadian dance. Very.
25:17
Quickly, I think we have to talk about the number one Canadian
25:19
pair though. That I literally, I literally
25:24
just pulled up the 2020 Canadian figures getting champions and
25:28
I'm like Kirsten Moore Towers did not win last season.
25:32
Kirsten Moore Towers just had a really cute baby.
25:35
She she certainly did. That's more offseason news for
25:37
you. Deanna and Max.
25:42
Oh I was the Pereirami show are the top Canadian.
25:45
Team right now, they are. They are, they are.
25:48
They're cool, they're fine. They're on tour, they're on
25:50
Canadian Stars on Ice. They are very.
25:52
Sure, they're going to have some fabulous programs next year.
25:55
I wouldn't say no to more Jesse Ware so, but Deanna.
26:00
Stellado costumes please. Yeah, Deanna Stellado Dudak and
26:05
Max Dechamp, I don't think they've made a formal
26:08
announcement. They have not they.
26:10
Have but I have. Either way.
26:13
We've heard that Max is not continuing skating, that he is
26:18
retiring and is now coaching, but that has not been formally
26:21
announced yet. That's correct.
26:23
Seems known within the skating community more than some of
26:28
these other things that we that aren't confirmed that we've
26:30
heard. Like, that's pretty well known.
26:33
I think he's probably waiting for a time to announce it, but
26:36
as far as I've heard, Deanna is continuing.
26:39
Probably, of course, Deanna will be continuing until.
26:44
The dawn of time, yeah. Yeah.
26:47
But but yes, Max Duchamp, no confirmation yet, but a very,
26:54
very much talked about here #3 was Loren Etier.
26:59
We've talked about they split number 4 was Kemp and Eliza
27:03
Roth. They are continuing as far as we
27:05
know and. The world junior champions.
27:11
And the world junior champions, there were a couple other
27:16
splits, which was or there was one other split that we knew of,
27:20
which was Quattrocchi and Lacasse who were in juniors last
27:28
season. So that's where we are with
27:32
Canadian pairs. But the big shake up and
27:37
Michelle, get some tissues. Big shake up was Canadian ice
27:45
dance. There's the tissues because.
27:48
Literally every team but like 2. It's crazy.
27:55
And they all broke up within like a week of each other two.
27:58
Weeks, I mean, it was, it was, it was like, it was like they,
28:00
they were, they were, they were uppercut at us and then we were
28:04
down on the mat and then we got up and then they like.
28:06
Yeah. They they right hooked us.
28:09
It was a lot. Like teams that we never even
28:11
considered as potential like splits.
28:15
Yeah. I just, I'm, I'm very, I'm still
28:18
traumatized. It was a difficult April.
28:21
I, I, I, I don't want to bury the lead here.
28:24
The big one, the big one was Marjorie Lejoie and Zach Laga.
28:29
And they, you know, it's like they, they, they, they've,
28:34
they've been in this, they were in this upward trajectory really
28:40
up until 2024. And then they kind of stalled
28:45
and then they sort of went backwards this season.
28:48
Well, on the on the judging side of things, they went backwards.
28:53
And so I'm sure that had to be frustrating to have been what,
28:59
10th at their second Olympics, you know, after being 13th at
29:06
their first and like, you know, having been fifth in the at the
29:09
World Championships just two seasons ago.
29:12
So they have split and as far as we know, both of them are
29:20
continuing and searching for new partners.
29:25
And there's a lot of rumors going on out right now, and I'm
29:28
not going to talk about any of them.
29:34
It's very upsetting. I'm glad that they're both
29:36
continuing, but it's just like, tragic.
29:39
And their former coach, Ramon Hagenauer, I know they stopped
29:42
working with him this season, but he gave some quotes to a
29:46
Russian journalist about how they had very different
29:49
personalities and they really didn't agree on like an artistic
29:52
kind of vision or path forward in their skating.
29:54
And it was always sort of a challenge to decide what they
29:57
were going to do. And I think we really saw that
29:59
because like this past season, like for them to scrap both of
30:02
their programs in August, it's, it's just interesting.
30:07
And it's so heartbreaking because they're so unbelievably
30:10
talented. I mean, just extraordinary.
30:13
And, you know, I really, really wanted to see them make it to
30:18
the world title, the Olympic title that I always thought was
30:21
in the cards for them. But, you know, I guess it's just
30:24
not to be. If you can't, you know, figure
30:27
things out, maybe it's better to go in different directions.
30:31
But at least they're both still skating.
30:33
I mean, they've been skating for 15 years together, right?
30:37
But you know, Zach Lagarde is 27, Marjorie Lejoie is 25.
30:44
And we had ice dance teams who were well into their mid 30s who
30:49
have been competing over the past cycle.
30:52
So that, that, you know, I, I think that I think I'm glad
30:57
they're continuing and, and hopefully that's, they're going
31:02
to find partners that will be better suited for them and
31:07
continue their, their journeys. So that was that was the big
31:13
one. Piper Gilles, Paul Poirier,
31:17
before anybody asks, have not said anything about.
31:21
Anything they. Have not said anything.
31:25
Their coaches moved from Scarborough, which is where they
31:29
always trained, to a different rink.
31:30
I forget where it is in Canada, but Carol Lane was posting all
31:34
this stuff about leaving Scarborough, all the memories
31:37
yours were going to this new place.
31:38
And Piper commented on one of the posts and was like, can't
31:41
wait to, you know, to skate there.
31:42
And it was like, what do you mean?
31:45
What do you mean you can't wait? Like, what are you going to be
31:47
doing? So maybe Piper and Paul or I
31:51
mean, if I were to Skate Canada, I'd be like, tell me, tell me
31:53
what you want, I'll give you anything.
31:54
Don't retire. I mean, so, so, so crazy, right?
31:58
I mean, we the the the three stalwart ice dance teams that we
32:04
have seen over the past Olympic cycle.
32:07
And I'm talking about Piper and Paul.
32:08
I'm talking about Maddie Chalk and Evan Bates.
32:10
I'm talking about Charlene, Queen Guinard and Marco Fabri.
32:15
Crickets. We were like, hmm, what's gonna
32:19
happen? Like all of us, all of us just
32:22
expected them to be like, OK, we're.
32:24
Done like retire on the podium, Yeah.
32:26
And. Like literally hold up a sign as
32:29
if we're done, Yeah. The most we've gotten, the most
32:33
we've gotten is like. After rigorous cross examination
32:36
by multiple journalists, Evan Bates finally said that we don't
32:41
know, but we're looking more towards show skating.
32:43
But we don't know. I think that that was as big of
32:49
an announcement as I think we're ever going to hear from Madison
32:53
Chuck and Evan Bates that they're they are excited to go
32:58
focus on show skating. Yeah.
33:01
And, you know, it's a, it's still a great time for it in the
33:04
US And I, I keep saying like, I feel like there's there's enough
33:09
demand out there for figure skating where they could put
33:13
together, you know, some kind of a fall or winter tour or
33:17
something. That would be very, very
33:19
interesting. And the Grand Prix Charlene
33:27
Guillard Microfabry have said that they're going back to
33:31
training. We don't know how serious that
33:34
is. I expected them after the
33:36
Olympics to be on a never ending press tour of Italy and they did
33:39
that a little bit. But then they went to like to
33:41
Africa on like a month long vacation.
33:44
And that's like usually what they do in a competitive season.
33:47
They go on these long trips and then they come back and train.
33:50
And so I'm like what? So what?
33:52
What's going on? Stay home and make money unless
33:56
you need to get ready for next season.
33:57
So that's yeah. Let's let's keep going down the
34:01
list of of Canadian ice dance teams #3 was Marie Jean Lorio
34:08
and Roman Legac. They are continuing as far as we
34:11
know. We haven't heard anything
34:13
otherwise and. We might retire, but we haven't
34:17
heard anything. Yeah, we have.
34:18
We haven't heard anything That's that's more of where what what
34:21
I'm what I should be saying. However #4 Alicia Fabri, Paul
34:27
Ayer have split and I think both of them have said that they were
34:32
going to look for new partners. That is correct.
34:38
And then #6 Lily Henson, Nathan Lickers, who had been, you know,
34:47
sort of up and coming over the last couple season.
34:49
Great season and they had they had one of my favorite free
34:52
dances this season to Blues for Kluke, which I don't say lightly
34:54
because I never like anything that Usava Julen did as much
34:58
when anyone else does it. But I thought their Blues for
35:00
Kluke was great and I was excited to see what was next for
35:03
them and I took that one personally too.
35:07
They have split and they are also both looking for new
35:10
partners. You go down the list number 9 at
35:16
Canadian nationals, Gautier and Tieran also split the last
35:22
splits going on and there was. Another high profile dance
35:29
split, though not Canadian. What kind of Canadian?
35:32
Kind of Canadian, kind of Canadian, but.
35:34
But not Canadian, yeah. We're not making any connections
35:41
to any of these because those are all rumors.
35:44
But Hannah Lim and Yiquan, to all to the surprise of a lot of
35:48
people, had had announced that they were going to split at
35:52
toward the end of April. And, and the, the, the, the
35:56
Instagram posts that both of them put out were very emotional
36:00
like that. You know, you can tell that they
36:02
have a lot of respect for each other.
36:03
Yeah, they were very close. Yeah.
36:05
And so South Korea does not have a an ice dance team currently,
36:12
although there's apparently a new ice dance team that has just
36:16
restored with Korea. Yeah, yeah, they're Canadian.
36:20
And Canadian. And it's Korean Canadian, but.
36:24
Here for Korea building a little ice dance program.
36:27
I hope both Yaquan and Hannah Lim continue skating for Korea.
36:33
Let's get more than one entry in those test gates.
36:36
I'm here for it. It would seem, based on based on
36:43
Alex Gamelin getting his Korean citizenship for 2018, that maybe
36:50
Korean citizenship is easier to get than Canadian citizenship.
36:54
I don't know, because we know Deanna Stellato was like, you
37:02
know, biting her fingernails for a long time to make to like
37:07
hoping, hoping she would get her Canadian citizenship.
37:12
And that's, you know, we're, we're, it's May 24th.
37:15
There's a lot of offseason left and we're going to hear more.
37:19
Well, one little thing about Hannah Lim is she posted a
37:23
little teaser on Instagram, I think today, I think it was like
37:26
this morning and she posted a photo of her skates on the ice.
37:30
And then there was a. There was.
37:32
Someone at least. Someone in black skates.
37:35
There was someone else with boot covers.
37:37
Yeah, if there's someone, if you're good at identifying
37:40
boots, take a look and make your best guess.
37:43
I, I saw some speculation on Twitter that it might be Zach
37:46
Laga, but I don't know. I personally, I'm not good at
37:50
that so. Speculations at all is I'm we
37:55
will, we will, we will hear more I am sure very soon.
37:58
But these these like sort of soft launch things usually take
38:04
a couple days and we know. So we'll see, we'll see what
38:09
happens. All right, let's let's go talk
38:13
about some retirements because some of these retirements
38:16
obviously had to do with splits. We know, we knew from the very
38:21
beginning of the season that there were a number of
38:23
retirements that were going to happen.
38:26
Calvary Sakamoto, Wakaba Higuchi, Mai Mihara, Wenjing,
38:31
Sway Song Han, Caroline Sousis and Shane Ferris.
38:37
All of those they, they made their, their, their retirement
38:44
announcements either fairly early or fairly soon right after
38:47
the World Championships. If you have not already, my
38:55
interview with Wakabe Higuchi just dropped on YouTube and it
38:59
it's a fairly substantial one, is 30 minutes long.
39:03
So very, very excited to have her on.
39:07
And next week, if you haven't heard already, Kaori Sakamoto
39:12
will be on the podcast for an interview as well.
39:14
So stay tuned for both of those. They are not announcing
39:19
comebacks. I will.
39:20
I will just tell you that much. So those happened, those
39:29
happened, a couple other ones that were of interest.
39:34
Well, everybody, every one of them are of, of interest.
39:37
But Hana Yoshida fairly still fairly young, has retired.
39:44
She's going to to Australia to go to university.
39:49
For her, maybe she'll take her skates.
39:51
Yeah, I know. It's like, you know, if we had,
39:54
if we had a, if we had a penny for a Hannah who is who, who's
40:00
Japanese of of some sort and also became Australian of some
40:06
sort, we would have two pennies. Anastasia Vipan Law and Luke
40:14
Digby split because Luke Digby is retiring.
40:18
Anna wants to keep competing. I actually saw her after their
40:27
free skate at the World Championships and immediately I
40:30
was like, oh, I'll see you next season.
40:31
And she was like, hold on a second.
40:36
So I was, I was sworn to secrecy for a number of weeks.
40:39
Well, no, a number of days, because she announced that
40:41
fairly quickly after the World Championships.
40:46
It's going to be tough for her because I don't know if there's
40:48
a lot of British I know pair guys and British citizenship is
40:53
a hard thing to come by you really I think that you need a
40:56
residency requirement for that and takes a long time.
41:00
So we wonder. We wonder.
41:01
Maybe she will end up switching countries, I don't know.
41:05
Right, exactly. I mean, what she was telling me
41:07
was that she and Luke, like, never really thought they were
41:12
going to get as far as they did. And when the last couple of
41:17
seasons happened, she was like, they're like, this is fun.
41:21
Like, this is invigorating. And he was like, ah, yeah, it's
41:24
fun, but also like, I'm done. My body's broken.
41:27
Yeah, exactly. And so, so Anna's definitely
41:31
she's got she's got a fire and she wants to continue question
41:35
of whether or not she has she'll be able to find a partner of the
41:41
right nationality of the right whatever circumstances.
41:46
Josephine Talyugard announced her retirement.
41:52
We talked about Rebecca Gillardi, we talked about Niko
41:55
Machi. We knew.
41:58
Well, we didn't know, but Rikumira Ryochikihara has had a
42:02
whole farewell tour and launched her their own tour, which
42:08
apparently sold out like immediately.
42:10
Good. For them.
42:12
So the, the pairs pioneers of Japan have, have, have, have
42:19
retired and you know, we, we, we wish them all the best.
42:24
They, they want to be, they want to build pairs in Japan.
42:28
They want to take all the stuff that they learned and, and, and
42:32
continue to build the Japanese, you know, skaters and, and the
42:37
next generation. Yulia Chatitina and Mikhail
42:42
Wozniak have splits because Yulia is retiring.
42:49
Mikhail is, I believe, searching for a new partner.
42:53
So there are pair guys out there, but you know, not
42:58
everybody is going to be a match.
43:01
And then then another one was Anastasia Gulubieva and Hector
43:08
Giotopoulos Moore of Australia, who had a hell of a season and
43:15
not in a not in a good way, because they had, you know,
43:17
there was, there was a country that they had to deal with.
43:19
There was citizenship stuff that they had to deal with.
43:22
He's retiring. She wants to continue.
43:27
And then lastly, Michelle the. Joker.
43:32
The Joker Vladimir Levinsev after 2 Olympics he has call it
43:38
called it a a career and that was all of two days ago that
43:42
that came out so. I'm grateful that I got to be in
43:46
person at Skate America for his like, best ever skate of his
43:49
life. That free skate was incredible
43:52
and I'll always remember it and him smoking at the boards.
43:56
He was, yeah. Fake smoking fake.
43:59
Smoking. I'm so sad he didn't make it to
44:00
the free skate in Milan, but you know.
44:03
Yeah, I know now or, or, or at the World Championships that's,
44:07
you know, like none of those very sad.
44:11
So retirements, lots of retirements, a few coaching
44:16
changes. I, I'll just say that the, the,
44:20
the, the, there's, there's, there's coaching changes to be
44:25
had. So take a look.
44:27
There are also, there have been music announcements already.
44:32
And then there's also been skaters who have announced that
44:35
they're continuing. This is a little bit rarer than
44:39
than what we usually get, which is like if you don't say
44:42
anything, people just assume that you're continuing this
44:46
year. Apparently if you don't say
44:48
anything, people have no idea and they freak out.
44:51
And so it's, it's very useful for you to announce something.
44:58
Hassevalden, the world champions are continuing and they said
45:02
they're continuing through 2030, which is I think to to people
45:09
who are who are in the skating community was is something of a
45:14
shock because a lot of folks were thinking that 2026 was
45:19
going to be where they where they end.
45:21
But they've only been together for a few years.
45:24
So they've they've got more to give.
45:28
Gabby Daleman said one more season and it'll be her final
45:32
season. Next season, I don't know,
45:36
maybe. Maybe she's.
45:37
Clips. Maybe she wanted to see some
45:39
more of it. Maybe she'll pull a star Andrews
45:42
at the in the middle of the season.
45:44
Yeah. Yulia Sauter, you know, Ayoki
45:48
Kazuki Tomono, Soto Yamamoto, all of them have said next
45:53
season. And so that there there's
45:58
there's hope, folks. And Alyssa.
46:01
Alyssa is an interesting one because she's she did say yes,
46:05
that she would, she wants to continue, but she also
46:09
backtracked. Yeah, I know she also
46:12
backtracked a little bit partially because she has had no
46:15
time to train. She has had no time to think.
46:17
And so, you know, let's hope, I mean, it's the, the, the state
46:26
of the US skaters is really like, we don't know what's going
46:32
to happen with with this, with this crop, especially,
46:38
especially given a few of them have been around for a while.
46:42
But you know, who knows that if you have, if you haven't gone to
46:48
stars on ice, it's been fun. The it's been great to see that
46:54
the enthusiasm of especially of US Stars on Ice and how much fan
47:01
footage there's been out there. And I'm like, I'm just watching
47:04
the same thing over and over and over again.
47:06
But it's cool. I'm glad I'm like better at that
47:10
than not having anything at all so.
47:11
It's nice for the skaters to be able to perform to such huge
47:14
crowds, too. Yeah, it's just gotta feel good.
47:19
Sold out arenas for Stars on Ice when you when just 10 years ago
47:24
we were like, can we even get 20% of these seats?
47:29
It feels like 1996 again. I know, I know it does.
47:33
Time for time for a competing competing.
47:40
I should. Yeah, we need a rivalry.
47:42
We need a heated rivalry. Which won't come back until next
47:48
year. OK.
47:50
All right. On that note, we've had a lot to
47:53
talk about, 50 minutes apparently, of talking about the
47:57
offseason news. I am sure there will be plenty
48:00
more to come over the next few months as we look ahead toward
48:06
the 202627 Olympic season or the 202627 figure skating season and
48:13
the 2027 to 2030 Olympic cycle. We are starting a new cycle
48:19
folks, and I will be at ISU Congress to cover it.
48:26
You are. I am going to the Congress.
48:29
Jackie, that's cool. OK, Listen, I need you to start
48:33
doing deals. I need you to.
48:35
I need you to pay some people off, palm them some cash.
48:38
We need to kill the character stuff.
48:40
Get rid of it. If I only had that kind of
48:44
power. I'm still trying to figure out
48:46
what I'm doing there, but I am. Go to the ATM.
48:50
Go to the ATM. Be careful, don't get the
48:52
hantavirus. I know, I know.
48:56
I ask you. Congress, if folks don't know,
48:58
is in Tenerife, where the cruise ship with the Hantavirus had
49:04
docked. Yeah.
49:05
So mm, hmm, mm, hmm. All right.
49:10
Well, Michelle needs to go to dinner.
49:13
Or. Needs to go drive to dinner.
49:16
Yeah, I need to go and start our rocker rewatch party for the
49:23
2015 Grand Prix Final. Paris free skate and men's free
49:27
skate coming up in 8 minutes. Let's go.
49:31
Yeah, I go to live.rockerskating.com.
49:35
Lots of other things happening. Danielle Earl, world famous
49:40
figure skating photographer, and I are getting putting out a book
49:44
which is a season retrospective of 2526 Olympic season.
49:51
I, I am halfway through designing that book and it's
49:55
looking pretty nice. I will say.
49:58
So if you're interested, go to live.rockerskating.com and put
50:04
in your e-mail because pre-orders will start in mid
50:07
June. Lots of stuff coming.
50:11
I can't I, I can't even tell you all the things that are coming
50:14
yet, but lots of things are coming for rocker skating, for
50:18
this podcast, for all the things that are happening in the next
50:25
season. So Michelle, any final thoughts?
50:28
Not really. I, I'm just like, I can't wait
50:31
for the Grand Prix assignments to come out.
50:32
I'm just so ready for. And I think we're going to get
50:35
some surprise team announcements via the Grand Prix assignments
50:39
because. You know, because it have to be.
50:41
Yeah, get it together to get your name in there so you can,
50:45
you know, get some assignments. We need like, we need like a
50:50
like a blimp or something at A, at a World Cup match.
50:56
I'm excited for the World Cup too.
50:59
You know that scene of from Game of Thrones?
51:01
When the they attack Daenerys and her dragon and the Dothraki
51:07
attack the Lannister army on the battlefield and you see there's
51:10
that shot of the dragon going across the screen, just
51:14
breathing fire all the way across, just like torching the
51:17
entire field. That is going to be this season
51:22
with Mao Shamata, and I'm ready for it.
51:25
I am ready. That's what I'm looking forward
51:28
to. Mao Shamata.
51:30
The fire breathing. Dragon that has any power.
51:32
We would appreciate her at Skate America.
51:34
Please. Please just a little request.
51:37
Who's got the power? All right, well, for Michelle
51:42
Ellis, this is Jackie Wong, chief skate nerd of
51:45
rockerskating.com. Thanks, as always, to our
51:49
sponsors at John Wilson Blades. Thank you so much.
51:53
And you know what? We're probably going to do
51:57
another one of these like in a month when the Grand Prix
52:00
assignments come out, so stay tuned for that.
52:02
But in the meantime, go and watch the Wakaba Higuchi
52:05
interview and stay tuned for the Calvary Sakamoto interview.
52:09
All right, talk to you soon. Wakaba Forever.
52:12
Bye bye.